The Little Vampire 2: Once Bitten Twice Shy
by SlightlyOdd13
Summary: Sequel to (strangely enough) The Little Vampire. The supernatural is spreading like the plague at Kadic, and life ain't easy for a student vampire. Then again the constant XANA attacks aren't really helping either. Hope you like it!
1. Good morning Azra

The morning sun peeked through a clouded window, as Aelita let out a groan, and began to wake up. She rubbed her eyes and let them adjust to the light in the room before she sat up and looked around. But what she then saw were not the familiar confines of her room, instead she saw someone else's.

That's when she heard another gentle groan, and glanced down to see where it was coming from. Beside her on the bed lay Jeremie, surrounded by a dark stain the same colour as the stuff coating his lips.

"Oh no," Aelita whispered, reaching to feel her neck. Her fingertips became sticky with a thick liquid, and she brought her hand down to examine it. "Oh no," she repeated, staring with wide eyes at her bright-red covered fingertips. "Not again."

• • •

Aelita blinked madly at her surroundings, trying to make her dorm room materialize around her, but it wasn't working. This was no dream. She glanced at the clock, which said that it was 7:30 in the morning. This was NOT good.

She turned to Jeremie and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently. "Jeremie, wake up."

His eyes blinked a couple times before they actually opened. He stared at her with eyes half-open, still in a daze, and a small smile on his face, before he snapped out of it. "Aelita, w-what are you doing here?" he sat up quickly, and picked his glasses off the bed, rubbing his eyes.

"This is bad, this is really bad," she climbed over him and off the bed, and began searching the room for a rag or something.

"What? W-what?" he put his glasses back on and stumbled to his feet after her. "Why are you here?"

"Jeremie, I never left," she told him, finally getting her hands on some tissues, which she immediately pressed to her neck.

His eyes widened with surprise, and he glanced back to the bed, to the dried pool of blood, then to her, particularly at the blood up the side of her neck, and a bit on her right cheek. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't—" she stopped and toned down from a yell to a normal volume. "I don't know!"

"This looks bad, really bad," he started pacing the room anxiously.

She fished her compact out of her pocket and opened it. "Worse than you think," she turned it around, letting him see his reflection.

He took it from her, examining his blood-coated face. "You're right."

She held the tissue to her neck. "What would they think if anybody found out?"

"They CAN'T find out," Jeremie told her, handing back the compact.

"I couldn't even begin to imagine tomorrow's headline in the Kadic news," Aelita shivered.

He agreed. "It would be a disaster."

"Do you have a water bottle anywhere?"

"It's empty, why?"

"Well we can't leave your room looking like this!" she gestured to the blood.

"You can't leave regardless," Jeremie reminded.

She looked at him in distress. "So what do we do?"

He tried to think of something —anything— to do to get them out of this mess. "Umm... Ginger ale."

"What?!"

"I don't have water, but I bought a ginger ale yesterday from the vending machine, and I didn't open it yet."

"You want to use ginger ale to wash off blood?" Aelita was looking at him like he just grew a second head (although with his type you never know). "Will that even work?"

Jeremie threw his hands up in defeat. "I don't know! But what other choice have we got?"

She considered this for a minute. It was true, there wasn't much else they could do. She sighed, "Where do you keep it?"

Within a couple of minutes they had broken into the bottle of ginger ale, and though they argued, it was Aelita who got cleaned up first. The two of them, supplied with only a box of tissues, a fresh bottle of ginger ale, and a tiny mirror in Aelita's compact, some how managed to make each other look presentable.

"Lift up your chin, will ya?" Aelita asked, tissue in hand. "Gee, you really are a messy eater huh?"

"I'm sorry, I think I over did it last night, that's probably why you passed out," he apologized.

"How do you know I wasn't just sleepy?" she countered.

He was at a loss for what to say. "Well, I, er—"

"Stop talking, I can't clean properly," she lifted his head up by the jaw.

He didn't have much choice but to stop talking, which is what he did.

You see, at Kadic Academy, things were not always as they seem, and common student Jeremie Belpois was no exception. He had this certain condition— he was a vampire. And his classmate Aelita Stones caught onto this, a few seconds after being bitten herself. So after an, interesting, endeavor between the two of them, Aelita made the deciscion to allow him to drink her blood, once in a while, which is when he sunk his fangs into her, and they both soon passed out, which brings us to this morning.

A few minutes later, Jeremie was at the door, ready to go.

"So you know what to do?" Aelita double-checked.

He reviewed, "Scout the halls, make sure nobody's there, and get you back to your room."

She nodded and adjusted her signature scarf. "Let's go."

The door opened and Jeremie poked his head out, looking like he was about to cross a busy street. But in reality the street was the hall, and the crossing came later. "Clear."

He and Aelita hurried into the hall and made a beeline for the stairs. Once they made it there they could stop holding their breath, and while Aelita started heading up the stairs, Jeremie turned around to go to his room. Unfortunately, they were not destined to part ways just yet.

At that moment, a flustered Emily scrambled down the stairs in a hurry. She nearly ran into Aelita as she came down.

"Careful," Aelita said, steadying herself by clinging onto the bannister. "What's the rush?"

"Haven't you heard?!" She looked at Aelita with surprise.

"No, why? What happened?" If it was enough to get down-to-earth Emily in a panic, it ought to be big.

"Er, um," she stuttered, not sure how to explain it. "Come on! You have to see for yourself!" Emily grabbed Aelita by the wrist, and practically dragged her back down the stairs.

As they rounded the corner starting down the next flight of steps, Aelita hazarded a glance down the boys' hall hoping Jeremie was willing to see whatever it was too, and she noticed he was already right behind them.

The pair ran past the courtyard, with Jeremie in tow, and immediately focused their sights on the large circle of people near the school gate, on the street beside which was parked an ambulance.

Once they got there, Aelita pushed her way through the rowdy crowd to get a glance. "Whoa, what's going on?" All she saw was a girl with long dark hair being lifted into the ambulance, and the door closing quickly, as the medics tried to keep the press off their tails, namely Milly and Tamiya.

"Sir, please, just one more question," the adolescent reporter tried to coax the man in the white lab-coat to reveal a few more details, but he quickly refused, hopping into the car and telling his driver to get going. Soon the only thing that was left was a crowd of kids surrounding a cloud of smoke.

"Oh rats," Milly frowned at Tamiya.

"What was that all about?!" Aelita asked, noticing that Jeremie had appeared by her side.

"You didn't see?" Tamiya looked quizzically at them.

"No I just, uh, got out of bed," she explained.

"Oh. Well it seems Azra, you know, Azra Urgup, was bitten."

"Bitten!?" Aelita and Jeremie exclaimed in unison, then exchanged curious glances.

"Hey, do you smell ginger ale?" Tamiya smelled the air.

Milly sniffed and nodded. "Actually yea—"

"Bitten by what?" Aelita asked, steering the conversation back to the more pressing topic.

"You won't believe it! You just won't believe it!" Milly seemed really excited, like this might just be the biggest scoop of her life. "Azra was bitten by a vampire!"

**A/N:**

**Yay! I'm really happy to have this up and running, cuz I'm usually not great at sequels, so I hope u guys enjoy it. This one plans to be probably more humor than the last one, and less, I don't know, seriousness. So yeah. Trouble is its harder to write jokes that it is to make them.**


	2. His alibi

A/N:

I have this strange feeling that I'm probably going to make most of these chapter titles alluding to other shows or songs or something. This one (as you might have figured out) refers to the move, her alibi, which I actually haven't seen since I was littler, and I don't really remember what it was about. So yeah. Enjoy!

On vit ze fic!

Tick. Tick. Tick. Stupid clock. Stupid school. Stupid day. It was just being impossible.

Well Milly at least had been right about one thing, Aelita couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe Jeremie, and what he had done. Completely uncalled for.

According to Milly, and/or the doctor, the estimated time when Azra was bitten was between 10 pm and 2 in the morning, which left a nice big time window in which Jeremie could have easily crept out and sampled Azra's blood, and come back, undetected. Worst of all, she couldn't expose him without _EXPOSING_ him exposing him.

Riiiiiing! The bell released her from the prison of a classroom, and she retreated into the halls, with a few swift steps. Of course, Aelita getting the chance to walk down the halls without being pestered, that would have been much too easy.

Jeremie jumped infront of her suddenly, and blocked her immediate path. Evidently he was very set on discussing something with her right there and right at that time. "Please, just listen."

"I don't want to listen. Not to you," Aelita scoffed, trying to push past him, but his reflexes were to quick.

"What ever you think you know, it's not true," he explained, pushing up his oval-shaped glasses.

"I cant believe you. After all that drama, and the puppy-dog eyes, and the," Aelita made pretend fangs with her fingers. "And then you just go off and bite Azra? That's just plain betrayal is what it is."

"I don't know what's going on here either, but I swear, I didn't do it."

"Well then who did? You're the only —vampire— at Kadic," she reminded.

"I can't be," he insisted.

"Look, I understand that you're going through a lot, and it's not easy, but you don't need to lie to me," Aelita told him.

"I'm not lying!" Jeremie yelled, getting a couple stares their way.

Aelita opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, Ulrich approached and nonchalantly greeted them, "Hey."

"_WHAT?!_" Jeremie and Aelita both whipped around with frustrated stares, steam shooting out of their ears.

"Whoa, never mind," Ulrich backed off. "I'll leave you two alone then."

The pair huffed, and parted ways in opposite directions, leaving Ulrich alone in the hallway, just meaning to ask if they'd seen where Odd went off to after class. It was clear that he wouldn't get an answer from either of them.

• • •

The mutual anger didn't last very long, and by the end of the day they had apologized and made up. But, if Aelita really trusted Jeremie, (who claimed to have been with her the whole night, but she factored in her convenient unconsciousness, which potentially gave him an opportunity) she would have to drop the charges, no matter how incriminating. And if he really was right, then they had a bigger problem on their hands; There was a second vampire at Kadic.

Unfortunately, that one realization led to multiple more unanswered questions.

The next day at lunch a rousing conversation began, revolving around the same topic, at the gang's table, except minus anything about Jeremie being one too.

"So what do you guys think about this vampire business?" Yumi raised an eyebrow, being the skeptic she was.

"Pfft. Vampires don't exist, and neither to ghosts or goblins. I bet you Milly and Tamiya hired Azra just to set the stunt up the night before, so they could try and fool the rest of us." Ulrich waved around a pasta noodle on the end of his fork, as if to add effect, "And I for one won't fall for it."

"I agree," Jeremie eyed the table more than anyone else.

"Then what about the ambulance huh?" Yumi countered.

"It must have been another hoax, they probably payed off the driver and brought a fake doctor, just to pretend to explain the situation," Jeremie figured.

She wasn't convinced. "Don't you think that's a lot to go through for just one little scoop?"

"Oh you don't know them. A little scoop goes a long way, and this one, to them, was big," Ulrich dissmissed it as just nothing.

Yumi pursed her lips into a frown. "You guys are so boring. What about you Aelita?"

"Well, I, uh," Jeremie gave Aelita a serious stare, and she took the warning. "I think it's definitely a fluke. I mean, hehe, there could never be a _vampire_ at Kadic, pfft, no," she laughed, kind of nervously and awkwardly.

"Discrimination," Yumi scoffed. "What if there really _is_ a vampire? Could you imagine? I think I'd be afraid to spend another night at the school, what with nobody catching it yet. Or even identifying who it is."

"Well there isn't a vampire, so you can stop pretending," Ulrich replied, nose in the air, because he knew best.

"I'm just saying IF. And besides—"

A small voice spoke up from the corner of the table. "You never know."

Everybody turned to look at Odd for the first time in the conversation.

"Yeah, that's just what I was about to say," Yumi agreed.

Odd continued meekly with a nod, "Because we don't know for sure. There really COULD be vampires at Kadic for all we know."

Aelita and Jeremie exchanged a suspicious look.


	3. Bits and bites

The next couple days were carefully observed, with Jeremie and Aelita on the hunt for the vampire. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as they thought. The Kadic news crew had since taken a few trips to the hospital, where Azra was still stationed, and, ehem, AQUIRED information.

Under Aelita's request, Milly and Tamiya revealed the deets prior to the airing of the next paper. So there they were in the courtyard when Milly pulled out her notepad and started reading. "So apparently, they don't know really anything yet about the assailant."

"But remember?" Tamiya tapped her friend, "A blonde hair was found on Azra's sleeve, that doesn't belong to her. It must be the vampire's."

"Have they figured out who it is yet?" Aelita asked.

"No," Milly shook her head. "But they checked the wound, and they now know that it was in fact the bite of a human."

Tamiya butted in again, "Although they think the teeth might be specially-made plastic insert."

"But they can't tell for sure because they were only able to get a tiny part of the DNA code from the bite, not enough to find out who it was," explained Milly.

"Or whether it was a vampire," Aelita finished.

"Yeah, exactly," they nodded.

"Ok. Keep me posted," Aelita turned around, starting to leave.

"No more freebies! If you want news, read about it!" Milly turned to Tamiya and continued. "There's no sense in us publishing it if we could just walk around the school and yell it out to everyone."

• • •

Aelita was heading back in the general direction of the classrooms when she was approached by Yumi, who waved, "Hello."

"What's up?"

"Not much, how about you?"

Aelita had no idea where this small-talk was going, so she played along. "This whole vampire scandal is making everybody crazy."

"Yeah, I guess it's kind of getting old," Yumi nodded.

"Well it has only been a couple of days," she reminded, combing a short strand of pink hair through her fingers as they ambled around the schoolyard.

Yumi shrugged. "By the way, I've been noticing that your a little on edge lately."

"Oh, um, really? Yeah, maybe. I guess," Aelita answered almost too quickly.

"Well this isn't the first time in the last few weeks either, and I know you know what I'm talking about," she gave her friend a knowing look. "All I'm saying is if there's anything that you ever want to talk about, you know where to find me."

Aelita smiled back, "Thanks, I appreciate it. But I really am fine."

"I didn't say you weren't."

• • •

"Go away, shoo! You're trespassing!" Jim herded a group of adults, some with notebooks, other with microphones and a couple with gigantic cameras, out the school gates.

"What was that all about Jim?" Jeremie appeared there out of nowhere.

"Oh hello Belpois, didn't see you there. That was a bunch of nosy reporters from the Paris news. Somehow word spread about this supposed vampire, and ever since they've been trying to sneak onto the grounds," Jim explained.

"Nosy reporters, they're no good," Jeremie shook his head.

"I wouldn't go that far. You know, I was once a reporter for the Parisian news," he revealed yet another of his endless number of previous jobs.

"Oh yeah? Really?" Jeremie knew EXACTLY wht was coming (and so do all of us).

"It was a blast. I still remember the one time when—" right in the middle of reminiscing, Jim was cut off by a winey, shrieky voice.

"Jim! Mrs Hertz needs you in the science room, she says it's something important," Sissi jogged over.

"Right away." Jim turned to Jeremie before leaving, "And besides, I'd rather not talk about it." Then he turned and started off, jogging towards the science building.

Sissi was left alone with Jeremie, who turned to her, voice thick with sarcasm. "Wow, thanks Sissi. What a conversation killer." He went to follow Jim's example and started walking away, quietly snickering.

Sissi squawked back, "You didn't need any help from me!"

• • •

A bit later, Aelita found herself in the rec room, where she noticed Odd and Ulrich, settled on the couch playing something rather violent on the Xbox. She came over and sat down next to them. "Whatcha playing?"

"Hospital of horrors. The game." Ulrich told her, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"No way, they made a game?" she asked.

"Yup." He nodded. "And Odd just got killed by the zombies."

Odd tossed the controller down, with a sigh and a neck-scratch. "Yeah, I haven't really felt like myself lately."

"Why? What's wrong?" Aelita raised her eyebrow.

He yawned. "I, don't really know."

"Not enough sleep sounds like," Ulrich told him.

"Yeah, I guess," Odd shrugged.

Aelita reached for the controller. "Hey, mind if I try?"

"Yeah sure, do you know how to work it?" Odd asked.

"I think so. It's this button to shoot, and this thing to move, right?"

"No, it's THAT thing to move," Ulrich explained.

Odd finished for him, "And THIS button to shoot."

A/N:

Just out of curiosity, how many people think they know who the other vampire is? And if you do answer as a review, please don't say any names, because you could spoil it. If you wanna guess with names, just shoot me a pm. Thanks!


	4. Promises you can't keep

A/N:

And the moment of truth! In this chapter lies the answer to all your questions (ok not really). Enjoy!

The fic...

The next day, Aelita, Ulrich, Odd and Jeremie were starting on their PE class warm up, a lap around the school, when they jogged out of the shade and Odd slowed down abruptly.

"What's wrong? Jeremie asked.

Odd held a hand up to block his eyes from the sun. "Wow, really bright today huh?"

"Just as bright as any other day," Ulrich glanced at the sky, and kept going. "Come on slow poke!"

Odd staggered to keep up the pace, keeping his hand between his eyes and the sun. "Yeah, ok. I'm coming!"

• • •

It had been 3 days since the attack, and Aelita was starting to get worried. If it really was a vampire's doing (she hadn't yet ruled out that it could have been a fake), then it was still at large. _Meaning_, the vampire might strike again.

Unfortunately, the next morning, Aelita found out that she had been right. There was another victim.

The gang was by the vending machines when she propped herself against a wall and opened up the paper, not having to look past the front page to find the scoop. The headline read, '**Vampire Loose on Campus!**' Kadic News, page A1, first article:

_A second victim has appeared on the doorstep of our school, this time, it was Emily LeDuc of the 8th grade. Our unfortunate classmate was found this morning in the rec room, blood soaked through her favorite mauve sweater, and splattering her novel of choice. Authorities say she was attacked sometime between dinner and kerfew. It is now evident that this supposed vampire is a serious threat._

_All that is known is the fact that this mystery person has blonde hair, and is obviously confined to the nearby area, either as a student, or staff member. It seems that his or her MO includes grade 8 female students, usually choosing to act dusk through midnight._

_ALL STUDENTS are urged to return to their dorms promptly after dinner, and use extreme caution at all times. It is unknown yet whether the vampire is legitimate, but that does not change the amount of danger which lingers in the moon-lit atmosphere of Kadic, and the surrounding area. From one student to the next, watch your bac—_

Aelita could feel someone breathing down her neck, and violently jumped to get away, stumbling over her own feet and ending up on the ground. She soon found herself looking up at a friendly, but concerned face.

"Are you ok?" Jeremie asked.

"Oh, it's you," she tried to slow her heart rate back down. He helped her up and she explained. "You scared the crap out of me."

"Don't worry Aelita, we'll get him a cowbell for Christmas," Yumi joked. "So what's in the news today?"

Jeremie replied before Aelita could. "Emily."

"Yeah, I heard something about that," she shook her head in worry, making her raven-coloured hair swing back and forth.

"Any news about who did it?" Odd sipped a can of root beer.

"Not yet. Still just the blonde hair," Aelita frowned.

"Too bad," Ulrich agreed.

"So, finally admitted defeat? You can't doubt the vampire's existence any longer," Yumi told him.

"Of course I can."

"How so? There's been a second victim. That derails your train of thought completely."

"I didn't say I understand what's going on here, but one thing's for sure, it's digging up a lot more than just the publicity. This is getting serious."

• • •

This was not good. Aelita replayed Jeremie's words in her head, earlier that day he had said to her: "Whatever you do, please be careful. Don't go down any dark alley ways, ok?"

She had replied with, "What is this? How not to end up in a horror move 101?"

"No, I'm serious." He sighed, pushing his glasses up his nose. "There's a vampire on the loose, and it's going for girls of the 8th grade. You fall into that category."

"Yeah, and the only vampire biting me is you," she reminded.

"Please just be careful ok?"

"Ok."

"And no eerie places at night by yourself, ok?"

"Sure." And yet here she was, defying his every precaution, in the eerie woods, at night, by herself. Was it just coincidence that there happened to be a full moon?

She convinced herself while walking home from Yumi's again, that it would be alright taking the short-cut through the forest, instead of the long way through the front of the school which would surely make her miss curfew. And that's how she found herself in the woods, her walk turning into a speedy tip-toe, because she was concerned about how much noise she made when a broken twig snapped under her foot. NOT that she was afraid someone (or something) might hear her. Nope. Not at all.

Crack! She scanned the area, wide-eyed. What was she supposed to do at this point? She was already half was to the dormitories, it would only waste more time to turn back now, and she would definitely be late for curfew.

But it was so dark. Was it this dark before? She couldn't remember. If only she had brought a flashlight. _Wait!_

She remembered the tiny one she had on her keychain, and took it out of her pocket. Fumbling with the switch, she turned it on, just as a shadow shifted out of view.

Aelita stood completely still, looking all around her. She wasn't alone. But she also had no reason to be afraid. She knew a VAMPIRE for Pete's sake. How much more terrifying can you get?

She pretended she didn't hear the subtle howl echoing throught the silent forest. Maybe it was just in her head.

She stepped nimbly around in a circle, shining the LED rays around every inch of the forest. A few little creatures scrambled back into their homes, but one of the bushes shook in an unnatural way. That's where it were hiding. Whoever it was.

"Show yourself," Aelita took a brave step forward.

Another dark streak bolted past, and she spun around to follow it almost instantly. But by the time she turned around, it had completely vanished again. Whatever it was, it certainly had superhuman speed. Aelita decided to try persuasion. "I-I'm not afraid of you."

The thing zipped back and forth, both times moving faster than Aelita's gaze, and both times getting closer. This was not going well.

She swung the light back and forth, trying to make out anything that didn't fit in with the dim, leafy backdrop, which wasn't easy to do. Every bush looked like it could hold a person, and every tree seemed thick enough to hide a body.

"Just come out," she called. This was futile. Her options were quickly running out. "If I'm going to get attacked, I want to know who my attacker is."

There was silence.

She tried again. "At least give me that."

Again, the only thing to be heard was the gentle hum of night-time critters. Then all of a sudden, Aelita somehow knew that something was running towards her, and in the eighth-of-a-second she had, before being pounced on, she did the only thing she could think of. Throw a punch.

Strangely enough, an eighth-of-the-second later, her fist made contact with something, something fleshy (like a person obviously), and the attacker was thrown back.

When Aelita opened her eyes, the silloette instantly took off into the night, like it had never even been there at all. But before it left, Aelita spotted something. A small flash of something on the person, that made her slightly more terrified than she was about the attack. But that thing, was not a thing at all, it was a colour, the last colour Aelita ever expected to see on her attacker; _Purple_.


	5. Shadows linger

Aelita stared. Blankly. At the board. As the teacher babbled. And Aelita totally didn't listen.

How?

How did this happen?

Mrs Hertz called on Aelita. "Mrs Stones, can you answer this question please?"

She was snapped back into reality. "Oh, er, um, that would be, uh..."

The bell rung, saving Aelita from almost certain humiliation. Alright. She was finally done the last class of the afternoon. Now to do something she had meant to do for the whole day.

For reasons she couldn't quite explain, her stomach started to flutter, and her heartbeat quickened, although she tried to push the feelings away. A couple deep breaths managed to suppress the feelings temporarily.

Within a few minutes, she found herself in an ever-familiar dorm, that wasn't her own. The kid-genius was seated in his normal seat, as usual turning around to face Aelita, who glumly dropped herself onto his bed, a faster heartbeat returning.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Um," she was a little reluctant, almost feeling like she would regret speaking, but she continued bravely, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Ok," another deep breath, "_HYPOTHETICALLY_, if you were the vampire, and somebody saw you when you tried to bite them, do you think it would be ok if that person revealed you? Like to a third person, or the authorities?" Her gut feeling was a bit contrary, but she knew she couldn't keep it to herself forever.

"Well—wait! You were attacked!?" He raced over and pulled back her scarf, examining closely.

"I'm fine! I'm ok! Nobody bit me," she put a protective hand over her neck.

"Who? Who is it? Did you see?" He interrogated.

"Well, kind of, but—"

"Tell me!"

"You didn't answer the question," she reminded.

"But but—"

"Answer the question."

Jeremie plunged into a moment of thought. "No. If it were me, I wouldn't want anybody telling anybody who I was."

She nodded. "So that will be my answer to you."

Jeremie furrowed his eyebrows.

"Even though he's a vampire, I have to respect him, like I do you."

"Well— it's a HE?! Ok! Blonde HE. That shortens it down to, it could be—" he started counting on his fingers.

"No!" Aelita sprung up. "Trust me. Ok?"

He gave her a stern look. "You need to be careful. You and I don't know everything my kind is capable of."

"Don't worry," she assured him. "I don't think he'll come after me again. And besides, I have a plan."

• • •

Later that day at dinner, when Yumi was also invited, a conversation was CASUALLY started;

"So guys," Aelita began, just a few butterflies in her stomach, both from excitement and anticipation. "What would you say to exploring for some new replicas tomorrow afternoon?"

Ulrich let out a long sigh.

"What is it? Do you have plans?" Asked Aelita.

"Yeah, we were hoping to do some pencak cilat," he glanced Yumi's way.

"Well at least there's no way we can miss more than we already have, right?" Yumi reasoned.

"Sounds good to me," Jeremie nodded.

"How about you Odd?" Aelita tried to sound as casual and cool as she could without turning into a cucumber.

"Yeah," Odd replied, with no signs of a wavering tone or baring any uncertainty. "I'll be there."

Despite her confusion and doubt, she plastered on a smile and chirped in her normal voice, "Great. Tomorrow it is then." And they all seemed pleased with that.

"And now, it's time to dig in," Ulrich grabbed his cutlery and turned his sights to the delightful dinner ahead.

Odd laughed, doing the same. "You took the words right out of my mouth, good buddy." Soon enough the group was chowing-down.

Later the conversation changed and continued, but Aelita's mind still lingered on the one subject. Had Odd been lying?

It sounded pretty believable. Then again Odd always WAS a good actor. Had she really seen his purple hoodie last night? Maybe her eyes had been playing tricks on her.

Aelita sighed, now she wasn't sure. All this uncertainty had made her doubt herself, and what she had been sure she had seen. But now the truth and her logical thinking had blurred the lines of reality, already grown fine with these fantasy creatures turning out to be real. She didn't know what was really going on anymore.

A/N:

I feel so bad for not updating, I'm sorry! It's just thankful that Aelita's birthday rolled around (that's today, October 9th), and joggedby memory. Thanks so much for all your support guys! It makes my day when I hear that you like my stories, and take time out of your day to read them. I promise to update more often!


	6. Reality check

Aelita spent the rest of the day locked in her room, going through all the options that she had left, all the doors that hadn't been slammed in her face yet.

That had been her big plan. And now what? It had struck out, much like a blown up air balloon let go, getting high hopes, and flying around carefree, just to expire and face-plant onto the ground.

Well, she thought with a sigh, maybe tomorrow would be better. And with that she climbed into bed and fell fast asleep.

• • •

She awoke to the sound of an incoming text, three minutes before her alarm was set to go off. The message was from Jeremie, and it read:

Third vic

Aelita smothered her face in the pillow and let out a long groan. There was little chance of the day getting any better, and unfortunately for her, she turned out to be right.

A couple hours later, the school was called into a surprise assembly, and they got the down-low on what was going on, and what the plan was.

"Good morning staff and students, I apologize for how abruptly this assembly was, assembled, but I can see now that our situation is quite, unique, and potentially dangerous. For more information, please turn your attention to Tamiya and Milly, of the Kadic News," the principle adjusted his tie, a worried expression painted on his face.

"Thank you Mr Delmas," Milly stepped onto the podium, followed by her partner. "As you all know, here at Kadic, we have a certain problem. We don't know for sure, and it's amateur to jump to conclusions, but it is a very real danger, all the same."

Tamiya continued. "In the corse of the last week there have been three victims. Azra Urgup, Emily Leduc, and today, Sissi Delmas."

The crowd was silent.

This was definitely getting serious, realized Aelita. She needed to do SOMETHING at least.

"The attacker, although we have not identified him or her, does have a couple of characteristics," Milly explained, and let Tamiya list a couple off.

"This person is of unknown age, but has distinguishably blonde hair. We know he or she is linked to the school in some way, either as a student, or as a staff member, and has a tendency to go after girls in the 8th grade."

"Acording to doctors at the hospital, a partial DNA code was found, but not enough to determine the identity of the attacker. We urge everyone to apply extreme caution."

"For schedule changes, and important notes, we return to Mr Delmas," Tamiya set the mic back down onto its handle, and exited stage right.

He took a deep breath. "It is both amazing, and frightening to know that the person who attacked my daughter and two other students, is in this room." He let there be silence, for effect, and to let him think through his next words. "Until further notice, the school is on complete lock down. Everybody who is here will be given sleeping quarters, and nobody is to enter or leave." He gazed downward in disappointment and frustration. "Whoever it is, please come foreword. This has gone on long enough. No one else needs to suffer."

There were minutes of silence. Then finally after five or ten awkward minutes where the kids were too frightened to say anything, everybody was dismissed for a break.

The gang met at their spot, by the vending machines, and didn't hesitate to start discussing the new developments.

"What am I going to tell my parents?" Yumi asked in distress. "That there's a vampire on the loose and that's why I can't come home?"

"Yeah, and besides, how is locking us in going to solve the problem? Are we going to play last one standing?" Ulrich's eyebrows were furrowed.

Aelita stood straight-faced, thinking about the possible outcomes. Then she noticed Jeremie, giving her a hopeful but questioning look, telepathically asking about her plan.

She frowned and shook her head. Then on another topic she noticed something."Hey, where's Odd?"

"Uum," Ulrich tried to recall, but it was Jeremie who replied first.

"I don't know."

Yumi shrugged. "I haven't seen him since just after the assembly. Maybe he's in his room."

But Aelita doubted that. "I'll talk to you guys later, I'm going to go, uh, ask Milly and Tamiya about something." She gave an implying glance towards Jeremie.

"Ok," Ulrich said. "See you later."

Jeremie came with Aelita, and only asked her after they got a little ways away of Yumi and Ulrich. "What's going on?"

"I might need your help with something."

• • •

Aelita found Odd deep in the forest, and he hadn't been easy to spot, either, perched in a tree, lucky for her, his classic outfit always included a mild violet, and quite often, bright, neon shoes.

"Hey," she said quietly to the purple figure.

He was noticeably surprised to see her. "Oh, hey."

"What are you up to?" She didn't intend on making a pun but it happened accidentally.

"Oh, uh, not much," he squinted at the ray of sun that shone through the leaves straight at his eyes. "I was just clearing my head."

"So what did you think of the assembly? Pretty intense right?" she asked, making small talk.

What is she doing? Jeremie was told to hide behind a tree, a ways away, far enough that he couldn't hear what she was saying, or even if there was someone it was aimed at. Had she wanted him to watch her talk to herself?

Meanwhile, Odd was running his hands through his hair. "Yeah, I'll say."

She nodded in understanding.

He continued, "It was really— well I guess it might be if you were the vampire, pretty nerve-wracking."

"Yeah. I can't believe he was actually there in that room, with all of us. It must have been pretty stressful for the vampire," Aelita reasoned. "Unless of course the person knew what they were doing, and MEANT to attack those girls."

"No— uh," Odd mumbled something under his breath, before replying. "I guess you're right."

"Hey, are you feeling okay?" Aelita looked up into the sun-bathed tree with concern.

Odd hopped down out of the tree, landing right next to Aelita a little clumsily. "Actually, I feel a little out of it."

"Hmh." She shrugged, "Well, you know if you ever want to tell me something, I'm right here."

"Heh, thanks," he took a couple steps, but then stopped. "Actually, do you mind if I take you up on that offer? Like right now?"

"Sure," Aelita wore a small, knowing smile.

"Well, you see, um, how do I say this? I, er, you remember when I said how I went to the movies the other night?"

She nodded.

He looked down guiltily, "That was not completely true."

Aelita smiled, "I know."

A/N:

Sorry for taking so long! Again! You could say school is kinda brutal, but I know, in truth, excuses are pointless. Thank you guys so much, for caring, for reviewing, for checking to see if I updated! It's awesome! Especially you people who don't have account, (because I can't thank you individually) thanks! Don't worry, I WILL update with with ch 7 in the next day or 2. That's a promise.


	7. Two's company, three's a coven

Odd stared at her in surprise. "You KNOW? But how?"

"Because I saw you."

"You SAW me?" His eyes grew wider still.

"Yeah," she could spot a few beads of sweat materialize on his forehead.

"Oh."

For a minute there was silence, as neither of them knew exactly what to say.

Meanwhile, Jeremie was getting tired of just standing there watching their lovely conversation, and he was just about to head over himself to find out what the fish-floggers was going on, when his cell phone buzzed, alerting him of an activated tower.

He ran over. "Guys! Guys!"

"Jeremie, just hang on for a minute please," Aelita requested politely.

"No, no, it's important," he insisted.

"That's ok," Odd told her. "What is it Jeremie?"

"There's an activated tower!"

"Oh, ok!" Aelita pulled out her cell and started dialing.

"Wait, Aelita, are you sure you're ok with it? Like you're not freaked out or anything?" Odd asked her.

She shook her head, and brought the phone up to her ear. As it dialed she caught Jeremie's gaze, and made pretend fangs then pointed to Odd.

Jeremie's eyes (temporarily) shot out of their sockets, and his mind exploded (but then it put itself back together so it was ok). He looked over at Odd with wide eyes.

Odd was meanwhile staring Aelita down with a look that said; what the fudge! Why did you do that Aelita!? Didn't I just say you're not supposed to tell anyone!?

Aelita had just started her phone call. "Hello? Yumi? A tower's been activated."

"So, you're the vampire?" Jeremie asked Odd, laughing nervously.

Odd's cheeks turned bright red as he nodded. "Yeah."

Jeremie burst out laughing. What were the chances?"

"This isn't a joke," Odd told him sternly. "And it's not funny."

Jeremie gathered himself together and tried to stop laughing. "I know." He made a point of smiling at Odd with his fangs extended.

"W-wait," Odd stuttered, eyes drifting down to Jeremie's teeth. "B-but... Are those..?"

Jeremie nodded.

"So you're a vampire," Odd's face was gleaming with surprise and joy.

"And you're a vampire," he added.

Odd was grinning from ear to ear, but then his smile faded. "Wait. You bit me!"

"What?!" That's the craziest thing he'd ever heard. A vampire biting a vampire, pfft.

"If you're the other vampire than you must have bitten me!"

"Are you crazy? Why would I want to bite you?"

"I don't know!"

"Ok, guys," Aelita hung up the phone. "We can chat later, everybody's headed to the factory. Let's go."

Odd started, "Wait, but—"

"Oh no! Look!" Jeremie pointed to the nearby flowers, glowing with the evil aura of newly implanted XANA signs.

A vine quickly wrapped itself around Odd's ankle. "Not again!" He tried to wrip the possessed plant off as it tightened around his calf. Reasoning that it might be useless, he yelled, "Run Aelita!"

Without hesitation, she bolted from the scene, but only got a few steps away before she was tripped and tied to the ground by the vines.

Jeremie wasn't far behind, being pulled to the ground almost instantly.

"What does it want with us?" Aelita croaked, scarcely breathing in responds to the root around her neck.

"Keep us here," Jeremie choked, "So you can't deactivate the tower."

"And then what? Suffocate us?" Aelita asked under her breath.

"Eh, I'm gonna guess, no," Odd was the first to spot the dark shifty shape that looked over Jeremie. He had a feeling he knew what might happen next.

"Jeremie!" Aelita gasped.

"No!" The specter slithered into his mouth and corrupted his mind, within seconds. XANA was so adept at this by now, but to the maniacal virus, it never got old.

"Fight it!" Odd called.

"Don't let him possess you!" Aelita cried, but it was too late.

Jeremie's eyes glowed with bright XANA symbols, and the vines loosened around Odd and Aelita.

"Come, on!" Odd had slithered out of them in an instant and was on his feet, helping Aelita up.

"What's going on?" she asked despirately, getting up.

"Head start," Odd grabbed her hand, "Run!"

"But—"

"Run!"

As soon as their backs turned, the roots holding a now thrashing Jeremie released him, and the chase began. Although, it was quite futile, and even before they reached the sewer Jeremie was on them, or rather Aelita.

"Odd!" she screamed, trying to keep a certain vampire's fangs out of her.

Odd whipped around and came in with a kick, nocking Jeremie aside, temporarily.

"What do we do now?" Aelita kept behind Odd.

"Get to the factory."

"What!?"

He hazarded a glance over his shoulder. "You heard what I said."

Aelita wasn't too pleased. "But what about Jeremie?"

"We're both vampires, I'm the only one who can stop him."

"But he's possessed!" She reminded, her and Odd dodging Jeremie's retaliation.

"Get to the factory! I'll hold him off as long as I can," Odd threw a few lightning-fast punches.

Hesitantly, Aelita started off, but she turned around for a second, "Odd! Stake in Jeremies room! Bottom drawer!"

"Get going!" he yelled back.

As if she had a rocket boost coming out the back of her scooter, she hopped on it, into the sewer, and road it to the factory quick as a— a vampire.

A/N:

Shortish chapter, I know, but hey what can I do? I've been thinking of making them a bit longer (I usually try for about 1000 words per), so, I guess I've got some editing ahead of me. Thanks for the support guys!


	8. Killing time

The elevator whooshed open to reveal Aelita, panting.

"Where's Jeremie?" Yumi was already asking. She and Ulrich had gotten there earlier, and been waiting for a couple of minutes.

"Er, possessed," Aelita saw little point in lying now.

"Fantastic," the only guy in the room face-palmed.

"It's ok. Get in the scanners, I'll set up a delayed virtualization," Aelita ran to the supercomputer.

"What about Odd?" Yumi asked, ambling into the elevator.

"Yeah," Ulrich almost forgot.

"Uh," Aelita had to remember that she _could_ tell the truth, just not the whole truth. "He's keeping Jeremie busy. Now hurry!"

• • •

Back in the school grounds a battle commenced, of epic proportions. It was like all the comic books Odd had ever read, except packed into one, and plus fangs. It was kinda cool, once you got past the really scary part.

"Whoa," Odd dove for cover behind a tree trunk, letting Jeremie punch it and not his face. This might be harder than he thought.

He flew around the tree in a blink, and Odd skidded away from another close miss. But who knew? Maybe it wouldn't be that hard. Odd was a vampire after all, so technically the only thing that could kill him was a wooden stake, and sunlight. Wait, that couldn't right. He was out in sunshine right now, and just as alive as ever.

Jeremie threw a series of attacks at him, in the form of punches and a couple roundhouse-kicks, which Odd managed to dodge most of.

He tumbled to the ground, and Jeremie was on him almost instantly, XANAfied eyes staring right into his.

Hmm, maybe this WASN'T going to be that easy after all. He chuckled, "I didn't know you were so athletic Einstein." Then all of a sudden he head-butted him, a real surprise to Jeremie, giving Odd enough time to slip away and dash further into the woods, ignoring the pain that pulsed from his forehead.

His speed seemed to have no limit, and trees began flashing by faster and faster, until they were just a blur of greenery and bark. Now he knew what super sprinting felt like.

Reaching the edge of the forest he screeched to a halt, and spun around, to make sure his fanged-friend was still there— which he wasn't.

Odd cussed under his breath and zipped back into the forest. If there was one lesson he had just learned the hard way, it was to never let a XANA-possessed vampire out of his sight.

• • •

On Lyoko, the trio were sprinting across an equally green landscape, looking around like they had lost something, which they might have.

"Where is it?" Ulrich furrowed his brows.

"Yeah, I thought we'd be able to see it from here," Yumi glanced around.

"The pulsations converge in this direction, we're heading towards it," Aelita left little room to doubt the obvious facts.

"So logically we SHOULD be able to see it," Yumi slowed, unintentionally controlling her friends' speed too.

Ulrich scanned the horizon, "I don't see anything. Except stupid trees."

"The pulsations..." she couldn't quite rap her mind around it.

"What is it Aelita?" asked Yumi, one hand already curled around her fan.

"The tower's obviously in this direction, but it's almost like it has some kind of cloaking device. It's making the pulsations weaker the closer we get," She explained.

"Another one of XANA's tricks," Yumi scowled.

"Wait," Ulrich stopped to make sure he understood. "Shouldn't the pulsations be getting stronger, the closer we get?"

"Technically, yes, but this cloaking device is serving its purpose. A bit further and ther wouldn't be ANY pulsations left at all."

"So what do we do?" Ulrich was completely oblivious to the sinister figure materializing from a dark cloud of smoke behind him.

"Duck!" Yumi yelled, tossing her fan, not a moment too soon.

William deflected it off his gigantic sword, which gave enought time for the samurai to pull one of his own, and engage in swordplay.

"You two go on, find the tower! I'll handle this wanna-be," Ulrich gritted his teeth, swinging and blocking William's powerful blows.

The girls didn't hesitate. "Come on Aelita!" They sprinted throught the sector, weaving around the trees, following a path that was running out quickly and not yet aware of the monsters that lay ahead.

• • •

It wasn't hard to locate Jeremie, all Odd had to do was follow the screams, and kids running away. "Vampire!" They cried. Odd clenched his jaw and tried to focus, but he couldn't pinpoint a location. Just then the pint-sized reporters came through the forest, flabbergasted by a piece of hot news.

"Can you believe it?!" Tamiya practically jumped for joy asking Milly, but before she could answer, they noticed Odd.

"Odd! Odd! Jeremie's the vampire!" Milly exclaimed.

He loved the girls dearly, but he couldn't deny that at some points (like now) they were really annoying. "Shut up Milly," he replied, galloping past. In his mind, it wasn't a big deal if anybody else knew, just so long ask Ulrich or Yumi didn't find out— they wouldn't forget after the return trip to the past. And Odd didn't want to think of how they'd talk their way out of this one.

Luckily Jeremie was in Odd's sights, and despite him being a XANA-possessed vampire, he was still a physical slow poke, so Odd was able to catch up.

It all happened looking like a blur, to the people around them. Odd tackled Jeremie, but they were both instantly back on their feet, and Jeremie was rebounding. He tried to slug Odd, but the boy jumped out of the way each time, reflexes adjusting more and more to suit his inner feline.

The two fought, almost getting out of control, when suddenly, out of nowhere, Odd spotted a metal pipe. With a quick apology, he scooped it up and swung around like it was a bat, hoping not to really hurt Jeremie, just enought to knock him unconscious.

It didn't work. Jeremie barely flinched.

Odd's surprise faded quickly, lost in the dodging and weaving once more. He was happy that his agility in comparison to Jeremie's was fantastic, but he wasn't sure mortality— uh, immortality, (as in the flesh and blood, and bone, and gooey bits), would beat the virus controlling his pal.

He kicked Jeremie to the ground, only to have him spring right back up. Looks like it was time to find out.

A/N:

Teehee I found out yesterday that there is an Aleida who goes to my school, and had a fangirl moment with my friends. Lol, anyways, thanks for reading guys!


	9. Ok, fangtastic

The girls could hear Ulrich's cry from down the plateau, as William shish-kebabhimself samurai with his sword.

Yumi started back around in a second, "Quick! Hurry!" But the sinister trail of smoke was already gaining on them, cutting them off as they entered a wide, coincidentally battle-friendly area.

"Aelita! Go on!" Yumi snapped out her fans and took a defensive stance, knowing perfectly well that the tower was nowhere in sight.

Aelita looked a little dumbfounded.

While all this was going on, Ulrich dragged his sorry butt out of the scanner, and hobbled into the elevator, eventually finding himself in the lab. He stared at the computer's keys as if they were ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, then picked up the bluetooth-like mic and put it on. "I don't know how I can help."

"The tower!" Aelita exclaimed. "Where is it?"

"Oh, I see it. It's just, er," Ulrich pressed a random button, just trying to find the coordinates of the tower, unbeknownst to him what that key actually did.

"Oh no!" Yumi yelped.

Aelita whipped in time to see Yumi's fans dematerializing before her eyes, and XANAfied William smirking evily.

"Ulrich! What did you do!" Aelita gave him heck.

"I'm sorry!" He was automatically on the defensive, seeing as how he knew as much about computers as Jeremie did about linedancing. "Here, maybe I'll just try another," he suggested, not aware of what the last key had resulted in.

"NO!" Both girls yelled from Lyoko.

"Ok, ok!" While this conversation was ensuing, William was happily taking advantage of a defenseless Yumi, who was dodging and weaving like an acrobat on steroids.

Aelita held her hand out and concentrated, a steady, melodic note being sung. Soon, and rather abruptly, William's sword and wrist were tangled up in thick roots, the size and texture of the towering trunks that decorated the forest sector.

He grunted and groaned, struggling to get his hand free, but it wasn't going too well. The roots continued growing from the ground and tightening their grip around his weapon.

Yumi took this opportunity to come in with a side kick, unfortunately, just as William got his hand loose.

Aelita furrowed her eyebrows and called to the sky. "Ulrich! Press F5,"

"F5, f5," he repeated, searching around until finding it. "Aha!" He pressed it.

"Ok, I'm facing North by north-west. Where is the tower?" Aelita felt a little guilty to just be standing around as a fight went on behind her.

"It's right there!" Ulrich exclaimed, pointing to the screen like it would help. "Right in front of you!"

"How can that be? If it was in front of me I would be able to see it", she reasoned. "Unless..."

A little alarm went off in the lab and a flashing red window popped onto the supercomputer's screen. It was the camera visual of the factory entrance, where a very possessed Jeremie was leaping down the two storey drop and turning to enter the elevator.

"Uh, sorry Aelita, Jeremie's in the factory. I gotta go. Good luck!"

Aelita gasped. "Jeremie!? No Ulrich! Wait! Ulrich?!"

He didn't hear her, because by this time the Bluetooth was set down on the keyboard, and Ulrich was standing in the elevator, door already closing.

• • •

This was not cool. Although it was a completely accidental mistake, Odd still couldn't believe he had lost Jeremie, again.

There they were in the forest, brawling it out, and attracting quite a crowd while doing so. Odd figured he was keeping him busy just fine, and it wasn't like this wimpy vampire could throw a half decent punch anyways. And then he did. He punched Odd square in the nose, giving him more than enough time to slip away and make a break for the factory.

"Oww," Odd rubbed his nose in rememberance, as he ran through the factory entrance, noticing Jeremie already waiting for a rising elevator.

This was probably not good. And it might be worse. Some weird sixth sense Odd seemed to have developed was telling him that Ulrich was in the elevator. Now things weren't just bad for Odd, he was screwed.

Thoughts occurring at the speed of light, Odd put the first idea that came to mind into action.

Following Jeremie's example he jumped down, completely ignoring the ropes, and began sprinting over to the far far edge of the factory, then quickly looped around, trying to pick up as much speed as possible and setting his sights on Jeremie. Odd's plan was to push him into the boiler room, just before Ulrich came out of the elevator.

It had to work. If it didn't work, Ulrich would see that Jeremie was a vampire, and from there it would just get messy.

Odd was a streak of purple as he zipped down the factory floor, going strait for Jeremie. Unfortunately, there was one thing he didn't have time to put into consideration.

Just at the last possible second, right when the elevator rose completely and Odd was almost to Jeremie, Jeremie took a step back.

The next thing Odd knew, he was skidding into the boiler room, in a despirate attempt to stop, but instead he crashed loudly into the machinery. Groaning and rubbing his head, he watched the scene unfold, a slightly terrified look in his eye.

But, to his surprise, the elevator didn't open. And he couldn't hear it from way in the boiler room, but Ulrich was grunting in frustration. XANAfied Jeremie didn't seem too pleased either.

A/N:

Um, so... (scratches back of neck sheepishly)..baa... Not much to say today. Although, I'm probably going to post the last 2 chapters of this story in the next couple days, because the Little Vampire 3 (yes, I've already started it) has some halloweeney stuff, and I want to get that out before Halloween. So yeah.

About this chapter's title, for those of you who don't remember, there was an episode where they said 'ok, fantastic' like 5 billion times, and this is a play on that. I think it was probably episode 53, straight to heart. Heheh, me and my friend joke about that all the time.


	10. Meanwhile in the elevator

In the elevator, Ulrich was wondering, _why is it always me?_ because he was thinking that he must have SOME bad luck today. Getting stuck in the elevator wasn't the first thing, and he doubted it would be his last.

He leaned over and slammed the 'OPEN' button a couple times, to not avail. Then suddenly a fist came through and penetrated the door, definitely surprising Ulrich, who jumped back.

• • •

Meanwhile in Lyoko, Aelita was not sure if she believed in Odd more than she believed in Ulrich and his desire to fight XANAfied people. Even though she couldn't stand to just stand there and not be able to do anything, she knew the tower was still the issue.

"Whoa!" Yumi was tossed like a rag doll towards Aelita.

"Yumi!"

"Have you found the tower?" Yumi picked herself up, looking hopefully at her friend.

Just at that second, Aelita saw something out of the corner of her eye. It was like a glitch in the sector, and for just a second, something was not as it seemed. She nodded back at Yumi. "I think I have."

"Then go! Hurry!" She could see William charging at Aelita from behind.

Aelita turned around and ran to the middle of the plateau. "Right in front of me huh?" She mumbled to herself with a smirk. Setting her sights on a thick tree smack-dab in the middle of the area, she ran into it. Literally _into_. Because it wasn't actually a tree, it was the activated tower.

Yumi almost didn't believe what she had seen, especially when William charged at the tree face-first, and bounced off. It was like watching a cartoon or something.

• • •

Jeremie tried with all of his might to make a larger hole in the elevator so that he could get in, but Odd was on him in a minute trying to get him as far away from the elevator (and Ulrich) as possible.

"Odd!?" Ulrich exclaimed, almost questioningly, poking his head out the hole that Jeremie had initially made with his fist.

"Don't worry!" Odd called, struggling with the vampire, out of sight behind a pillar. "I've got him!"

Luckily Ulrich didn't see that it was Odd who was getting beaten to a pulp, again. _Please, please tell me the tower is getting deactivated_, Odd was mentally crossing his fingers, not knowing how much longer he could keep Ulrich from seeing Jeremie's fangs, or his own for that matter.

Back in the tower, Aelita was already floating up, also crossing her fingers, in hopes that blood had not been shed, nor had anything been revealed. She hoped she wasn't too late.

"Cummon Aelita, make it fast," Odd hissed through his teeth, currently taking a few hundred-thousand volts from his friend.

Her foot finally landing on the platform, Aelita's hand couldn't have come down faster as the window popped up, spelling out her name.

"Don't worry Odd, I'm coming!" Ulrich was prying open the hole, trying to climb through it to help his buddy.

Sometimes Aelita wished her name wasn't so long. This was one of those days.

AELITA_

Ulrich was half in, half out of the elevator, meanwhile behind a pillar not far away, Odd was beginning to see dark spots dancing around, clouding his vision of the possessed vampire who may or may not have been trying to kill him.

_Come on, come on_, Aelita may not have showed it, but she was always in a rush when it came to this.

CODE_

An evil cackle escaped Jeremie's XANAfied innards, as Ulrich faceplanted onto the ground, completely out of the elevator.

CODE:

Ulrich picked himself up and sprinted around to help Odd, just as—

CODE:

LYOKO_

Jeremie suddenly became as limp as a ragdoll, and both him and Odd collapsed to the ground, just as Ulrich turned the corner to witness it.

"Odd! Odd!" Ulrich got down and shook his friends shoulders, trying to get a responce. "Say something!"

Odd's eyes fluttered and he grunted, "something."

Ulrich shook his head, but the smile on his face said it all. He snorted, "Dork."

Back in the tower, Aelita also wore a small smile on her face. "Tower; deactivated."

And that's when they returned to the past.

• • •

The gang found themselves at dinner, in the cafeteria, back on Sunday, almost a week earlier. There was silence for a minute at their table, as they all came back to reality.

Odd was the first to speak. "Whoa."

"You can say that again," Ulrich agreed.

"Whoa," he repeated, grinning this time.

"What day is it?" Aelita asked, looking around like she'd never been on the cafeteria before.

"Er, Sunday?" Jeremie checked his watch, which also told the date. Handy-dandy little contraption if you asked him, which not may did.

"Well. That was... interesting," Aelita basically summed up the whole week that would never happen.

"I'll say," the boys all said in unison.

Just then Ulrich's cell vibrated as he received a text. It was from Yumi, reading: _Everyone ok?_

"Yumi wants to know if we're ok," explained Ulrich.

The others nodded nonchalantly.

Ulrich replied to Yumi; _Yup. U?_

_Fine ;)_

A/N:

One more chapter folks!


	11. Vampires are alive

Aelita and Jeremie were in the latter's room, _actually_ working on the virtualization program, when a little knock came to the door. The two exchanged shrugs, before Jeremie answered, "Come in."

A tentative figure slowly entered, losing the door behind him, a weak smile in place of his usual goof-ball one.

"What's up Odd?" Aelita asked, making space for him on the bed.

"I wanted to tell you guys something," he explained, sitting down next to Aelita. "And I also want some answers. First off Jeremie, why did you turn me?"

"What are you talking about?" Jeremie genuinely had no idea.

"I mean why did you turn me into a vampire?"

"What?!" Aelita and Jeremie exclaimed at the same time, in confusion.

"I was turned into this on— well, earlier today, and you're a vampire, so it just seems obvious," Odd reasoned.

"Uh, it wasn't me. I was in Paris all day, then locked in my room, so how could I?" Jeremie reminded.

Odd glanced downwards, he didn't know what to think.

"Don't worry Odd, we'll figure it out," Aelita assured him.

"Meanwhile," Jeremie pulled a couple full wine glasses out of his closet and brought them over, offering one to Odd.

"Wine?" Odd looked at his friend quizzically, as he was handed the glass.

Jeremie shook his head, "Think again."

Odd brought the glass closer to his face, smelling the contents, which is when his fangs lengthened automatically.

Aelita rolled her eyes playfully. "I'm beginning to think you boys are all the same."

"Nope. We're just two of a kind," Jeremie reached back into the wardrobe, and tossed the bottle of ginger ale to Aelita, who just laughed in responce. She considered asking him whether she should start using it as perfume.

They all gathered around, and the two glasses and the pop bottle clinked together, before they all took a swig.

"Jeremie, where did you get this?" Odd asked, his face looking almost instantly more vibrant and alive.

"Hey, don't look at me," he pointed to Aelita.

"Well I'm no blood bank," she shrugged like it was no biggie, even though it kinda-sorta was.

"This is yours?" Odd asked meekly, eyeing the rest of the stuff in the glass a little guiltily.

"No sweat," she replied with an upward flick of her hand.

"Yeah, no probs," Jeremie nodded.

Aelita gave him a friendly but disagreeing stare. "You're one to talk. You're not donating blood."

"Well I never asked you to, and besides, you do gain something this way," Jeremie pointed out.

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

Odd jumped on the bandwagon, "Why two fantastic vampire pals of course."

"Don't you mean FANG-tastic?" Jeremie corrected jokingly.

They all laughed, and rolled their eyes, sincerely hoping that the neighboring dorms' occupants were fast asleep, because for one night, they should be able to celebrate without any worry.

Unfortunately, morning would come, and with it new challenges to face, and new ways to make evil go away, yet again. But they didn't have to worry. At least, not tonight.

A/N:

And that's a wrap! Thanks so much guys, I love the support, and I'm glad you liked my fic. To recap what I was saying earlier, yes, I am doing a TLV3, and I'm probably going to upload it tomorrow or the next day (29 or 30th of Oct). Just as soon as I find a good name for it.

(pretty random note, this chapter's title is after a song by DJ Bobo, one of my mom's favourite artists. It just seemed fitting)

Thanks again guys!

—Slightly Odd out;)


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